John Dahl has kindly made available to PPS members his five frame exhibit on the Nyassa Company, to be shown at LONDON 2015 next week. The exhibit received Large Gold at LUBRAPEX 2009 in Évora, Gold at STAMPEX 2010 in London and Large Vermeil at JOBURG 2010 in Johannesburg.

For LONDON 2015, John has ditched the first frame, with 19th century stamps and covers, and added a new fifth frame about the 1918 local surcharges on the 1901 issue. In this way, the exhibit became more coherent, dealing only with the “Camels and Giraffe” issue, the new frame confirming the conclusions of the first four frames as to which printings were sent Nyassa for postal use. John writes:

“Over 50 years’ fascination and original research has finally revealed the surprising secrets of this seemingly common issue, that was the pride of every schoolboy’s collection.  As well as unique Die Proofs this 5-frame exhibit details the Waterlow & Sons recess printing method.  Based on the Waterlow archive, containing some 180 complete sheets, plating studies have revealed that 7 printings of the 1901 issue were made, including two reprints in 1922.  Well over 90% of the stamps printed were never sent to Nyassa, but outlet onto the philatelic market in London, including the two printings with inverted centres.  Nearly all ‘used’ examples were cancelled to order in London; indeed genuinely used examples (if you can recognise them!) are much rarer than their catalogue value suggests.  The rare covers have provided vital evidence in determining the printings which were sent out to Nyassa for postal use.”

Click on the images to see the plans of the exhibit and of its original first frame with 19th century material. The LONDON 2015 exhibit Read More →